Welcome to another wonderful blog tour, run by the ever lovely The Write Reads. We always cover a great selection of novels, from large publishers to self published and in between, and what makes that so brilliant is you end up finding new novels – and new names – you might otherwise have gone through life not encountering. It really is wonderful to be involved.
This time, we’re looking at Legends Rise, the third book in the Venators series by Devri Walls. Being book three, there is a fair amount of back story but it is recapped well enough that you can jump right in without it being completely overwhelming. Here’s what GoodReads has to say:
In the third installment of the Venators series, Rune, Grey, and their companions Beltran and Verida have set off together to save their mentor Tate from the gladiator games. As their group struggles to stay together under the strain of their situation, Rune’s twin brother Ryker is falling more surely into the clutches of Zio the sorceress, who has her own plots for the future of Eon, and the Venators.
The path will be forged in sweat and blood.
Rune, Grey, the shape-shifter Beltran, and willful vampire, Verida, set out to rescue their friend and mentor, Tate, from the gladiator games. But first they must navigate the perils of Eon and its warring factions. Each of this band of four carries with them a secret that threatens to tear their group apart from within. Rune now bears the mark of the promise she made to save Grey’s life-a nixie bubble lodged in her arm that could call her away to do their bidding or spell her death.
Even as their loyalty to their cause and to one another faces its greatest test, Rune’s twin brother Ryker is forging an alliance with their mortal enemy, the powerful sorceress Zio, who has plans of her own for the Venators and Eon. Hearts will be bared, secrets unveiled, and relationships made and destroyed in this stunning new installment of the Venators series.
As always we were lucky enough to be gifted a copy of the book to read for reviewing. I actually had problems with making it work on my Kindle, so ended up buying the Audible version of the book to listen to, and this was, frankly, a great life choice.
The story starts with an important meeting taking place, where it is clear there are trust issues – putting it mildly – even having not read the previous books. Working out who is siding with who, and also who is only out for number one, was an interesting way to start a book, and certainly made it more engaging that it might otherwise have been, taking away the intimidation factor of picking up the third book in the series.
From there on the book builds on the tension and fear that are shared between the characters, with little bursts of wit that keep it an amusing read as well as a cleverly written one.
I would certainly be interested to read the whole series, having now experienced this book, and I have to say as well that this was another narrator that was born to do their job!
Thank you to The Write Reads and to the author Devri Walls for my time on this tour, and for introducing such a cast of characters into my bookish life.
And On She Reads 